Charter schools find bargains among high vacancy

Schools find bargains among high vacancy

Charter schools that once struggled to find a place to house their students are now finding that the recession has made the job easier by creating a surplus of empty big-box stores and other available venues.

Unlike traditional public schools, charter operators receive no money from the state for buildings.

So, they need to find a place that's affordable, will pass local fire and building codes and will not break the budget. And it's a plus if there's room for expansion.

"We have taken advantage of the down real-estate and construction markets in ways we hardly imagined three years ago," said Dan Scoggin, CEO of Great Hearts Academies, a non-profit charter-school company that runs six schools in the Valley. "Incredible opportunities have emerged."

The organization runs two Southeast Valley schools, Mesa Preparatory Academy and Chandler Preparatory Academy, both of which recently moved to better facilities.

Mesa Prep moved to a building it is leasing from the Mesa First Assembly of God on South Lindsay Road because the rental facility includes a gym, auditorium and field. The organization signed a five-year lease for the 30,000-square-foot building, which will be used for 350 students in Grades 6-11. It spent $250,000 in renovations.

The group also invested $10.5 million to buy and remodel a 105,000-square-foot former grocery store for Chandler Prep last fall. It opened Aug. 6.

Students come from other charter schools, home schools, private schools and district public schools in Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Ahwatukee, Queen Creek and Casa Grande to attend Chandler Prep, officials said.

Once geared for sixth through 12th grade, the academy will open a second school for kindergarten through fifth grade on the same site. A parking lot that fronted Alma School Road has been transformed into a grass field for soccer and football games.

"Charters have always been creative in . . . reusing buildings," Scoggin said. "The market has come to us."

Chandler Prep opened in 2005 at the East Valley Mall and graduated its first class in the spring. Great Hearts Academies bought the property and paid for remodeling with $2 million it raised during a capital campaign. It also received a "significant donation" from the Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation.

"We are currently working on other similar ownership opportunities within the Great Hearts network in various parts of the Valley," said Scoggin, who is looking to purchase a former light-industrial building at Bell Road near Loop 101 for a Scottsdale students in Grades 6-12.

Throughout the East Valley, parents and residents can expect to see more charter schools and other non-retail tenants occupy empty big boxes, said Michael Pollack, who is known for redeveloping older shopping centers in the Valley.

"We're thrilled to see it become a charter because it is a great reuse of a building that had no more retail life in it," Pollack said of Chandler Prep.

"The cost to rent a building is so cheap compared to what it would cost to build a new charter school that they would be foolish not to retrofit in today's market," Pollack said.

And with budget-conscious charter schools, buying or leasing a facility is cheaper than building a new one, he said.

"Even though things are cheaper in construction than at the peak of the market, they still cost a lot of more money than what you could to rent at shopping centers."

Many charters - public schools that are allowed to operate relatively independently - can't solve the building problem, and thus never open despite having been approved. But as Southeast Valley shopping centers remain empty, charters are moving in.

In east Mesa, at Main Street east of Power Road, Sun Valley Plaza houses East Valley High School, a charter school that was once a former AMC Theatres complex. Another charter school, Faith Christian School, will open at the center this fall in a former supermarket. Sun Valley Plaza is now owned by Pollack.

"We're going to see a lot more creative uses for big boxes because we're overbuilt," Pollack said.